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Tim good morningESPN
Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets star striker, will remain out until the All-Star breakup due to a hamstring strain he suffered earlier this month, the team announced Friday.
After a follow-up MRI, the Nets determined that Durant “will require an additional recovery period” that will keep him out during the All-Star break. which includes next month’s All-Star Game in Atlanta.
“While we are confident that Durant will return strong, this extra recovery time will allow him to act at the level he has been playing this season once he returns,” the Nets said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Nets coach Steve Nash had said he hoped Durant would return before the All Star break.
“We just try to watch out and be careful,” Nash said before the Nets won the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. “We’ve definitely slowed things down in this regard – not putting any pressure on him, not trying to rush him in any other way and making sure we give him the right time to be more than healed, to be strong and conditioned to get back on track. the team “.
It was not immediately known whether Durant, who was named captain of the All-Star Game, would remain in charge of selecting players for one of the teams despite not playing there. This is the first time one of the captains cannot play the game since the league changed its East vs. West format to two captains who chose their respective teams.
During has lost nine of Brooklyn’s last ten games, three due to NBA safety and health protocols, after being retired in the middle of Brooklyn’s loss to the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 5 due to follow-up of contacts with someone who had a positive test, and then the last six games after suffering a hamstring strain against the Golden State Warriors in a Feb. 13 victory.
The Nets have won eight straight games, the longest winning streak in the NBA, and will face the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night on ABC in Brooklyn.
After playing in Dallas, the Nets have two more games before the break: in San Antonio against the Spurs on March 1 and in Houston against James Harden’s former team, the Rockets, on March 3.
For 32 years, he averaged 29 points, 5.3 assists and 7.3 rebounds per game this season.